Planting pots and containers have been used for decades for purposes of growing flowers, small plants and shrubs in an indoor or outdoor setting. More recently pots and containers have been used on a commercial scale for growing plants and flowers so that they are readily transportable for purposes of sale and transplanting elsewhere. For example, nurseries often use planting pots as a means to grow small plants and shrubs in a contained environment so as to reduce the need to physically dig the plant from a field grown setting for purposes of sale and transplanting. When grown in a container plants also tend to remain somewhat healthier as the root system and the soil surrounding the plant's roots is only disturbed once; namely, when the plant is removed from the container to be transplanted. Traditionally a plant's roots are disturbed twice when transplanted, once when the plant is extracted from the ground and again when it is re-planted.
In order to provide protection to a plant's root system when it is either growing or being transported within a planting pot or container, such containers have traditionally been made from plastic or some other rigid material. While these materials serve the intended purpose of providing protection for the root system, they are not biodegradable and it is necessary for the plant to be removed from the container prior to transplanting in the ground. When a plant's root system is removed from a container it is inevitably damaged to some degree. The damage is particularly prevalent in cases where the root system is extensive and fills much or all of the container. It is also relatively common to transplant plants and flowers when they are in full bloom, a point during a plant's life cycle when root and transplanting shock is usually most severe.
To combat this problem others have proposed the use of containers comprised of materials that are somewhat biodegradable and that may be planted directly into the ground without the need to remove the plant contained within them. However, such containers typically suffer from one of two limitations. First, in order to ensure that the container quickly decomposes within the ground so that the plant's root system can be released and is not unduly confined, some containers have been made from a relatively thin decomposable material. Unfortunately those containers tend to have very little rigidity or structural integrity and do not function adequately as a transportation medium. Such containers are therefore not able to be used effectively for growing the plant from seed or for transporting a plant from one location to another. On the other hand, pots that are made of a more rigid and sound material provide an enhanced ability to protect the root system and allow for easier transportation, but do not readily decompose. When planted in the ground they tend to cause the root system of a plant to remain confined within them. It therefore often becomes necessary to physically cut the container open to or remove large portions of its sides in order to allow the plant's roots to escape. In either case root damage often occurs.
There is therefore a need for a container for growing and transporting flowers and plants that provides a rigid structure to protect the root system and that also provides a structure that is readily decomposable such that when it is planted in the ground it will quickly disintegrate and allow the plant's roots to grow freely within the ground.